Govt to subsidise firms that hire older, jobless locals

PHOTO: The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The Government has said that it will enhance support for Singaporean professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) to "strengthen the Singaporean core".

In a statement today, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) will implement a career support prgramme to encourage employers to hire mature Singaporean PMEs. Employers can get subsidies if they hire local workers above 40 years old who have been looking for jobs for at least six months. The jobs must pay at least $4,000 for the employers to get the subsidies.

The scheme will start from Oct 1 this year for eligible PMEs who register with WDA Career Centres and e2i, and will run for two years.

More stringent 'quality assessment' of foreign PMEs

The ministry also said that it will pay more attention to the "quality assessment" of foreign PMEs. It said that it currently bans applicants with forged qualifications from working in Singapore for life. It will "take a further step of rejecting work pass applications which contain doubtful qualifications such as those from degree mills".

For companies that have a higher ratio of foreign workers compared to other companies in the same industry, the ministry may ask these employers to submit more information to prove that Singaporeans were considered fairly for employment before approving their Employment Pass applications for foreign workers.